"Head of White Land Fees": 68 days until the end of the second phase in Mecca and Jeddah

The head of the White Land Fees Program, Engineer Abdulhameed Al-Hammad, confirmed that more than 117 million square meters of white land subject to the fees system have been developed, entered into circulation, had their ownership transferred, or are under development. He pointed out that the fees revenues allocated to increase the supply of residential land amounted to more than 2.2 billion riyals, which were spent on developing infrastructure and delivering services to more than 85 residential projects around the Kingdom. He emphasized that the program has achieved positive results for the purpose for which the fees were imposed.

This came during his participation in a workshop entitled “Makkah and Jeddah between the application of the first and second phases of white land fees and development incentives” within the activities of the Restatex Jeddah Real Estate Exhibition held under the patronage of His Excellency the Minister of Municipal and Rural Affairs and Housing, Mr. Majid bin Abdullah Al-Hogail, during the period from 10-13 October 2022 at the Jeddah Center for Forums and Events.

Al-Hammad explained that the area of the lands that were invoiced amounted to more than 550 million square meters in various cities of the Kingdom in the first phase, while the area of the lands that were invoiced in the second phase in the city of Riyadh amounted to more than 25 million square meters.

Al-Hammad stated that only 68 days remain in the registration period for the second phase of the vacant land fees in Mecca and Jeddah. He pointed out that failure to register within this period will result in a fine that could reach 100% of the fee amount. He added that the vacant land subject to the fees, and owned by more than From one owner with a single deed ; the fees are applied to the owners according to each partner's share.

He explained that the purpose of imposing the fees is to increase the supply of developed land in order to achieve a balance between supply and demand, provide residential land at reasonable prices, as well as protect fair competition and combat monopolistic practices. Every landowner is required to register his land within the legal deadline for land registration, in order to avoid a penalty for non-registration. After the registration period ends and the invoice is issued, he can object to the fees and submit evidence of impediments to applying the fees. Any beneficiary can inquire about the existence of an existing fee on any undeveloped land by the deed number only through the undeveloped land fees website.

It is worth noting that the first phase of land fees was allocated to undeveloped land with an area of 10,000 square meters or more. The second phase includes developed land with an area of 10,000 square meters or more, as well as all scattered land plots belonging to one owner totaling more than 10,000 square meters in a single development. In the third phase, fees will be imposed on developed land with an area of 5,000 square meters or more, as well as all developed land plots belonging to one owner with an area of 10,000 square meters or more in a single city.